Desolate Era

by RWX

  The legends that were circulating amongst the soldiers of the West Prefecture were quite vivid and fanciful.

  Even the other powerful member of the Ji clan of the West Prefecture, Ji Lee, believed that the little fellow Ning was only able to kill a Godbeast because he had some sort of precious weapon.

  Dragon Castle. The cage.

  A powerfully built monstrous beast with black spots was lying on the ground. The thick fur on his body had been split open in many places, and blood from those massive wounds stained the ground.

  Ning was still standing there, frowning as he was thinking. The sharp sword in his hand disappeared into thin air. When fighting with most peak Houtian monsters, he only used his internal energy, and the weapons he used were only fairly decent weapons which couldn’t be described as ‘precious’. After all, he was already so physically strong that using a precious weapon on top of that would make the training pointless.

  “Ji Ning!” A voice from above.

  Ning couldn’t help but look up at his father, Yichuan, who was on the viewing platform. This made Ning quite surprised. “Father, why have you come?”

  Because he fought every three days here in the Dragon Castle, aside from that first fight with the Howling Moonwolf, the subsequent dozens of battles, his father had not attended…

  “I wanted to see how your swordplay was progressing,” Yichuan said. “Have you reached ‘initiation’ yet?”

  “Not yet.” Ning shook his head. “I haven’t gained expertise in any of the many attacks contained within the [Raindrop Sutra] or the [Thunderflame Sword].”

  The [Raindrop Sutra] had a total of nine attack techniques.

  The [Thunderflame Sword] had a total of three attack techniques.

  These attack techniques were all very special… if one could train in them to a high level, one would feel as though one had become ‘one with the world’ and be able to use the power of the world itself. This was what was known as ‘initiation’. But this didn’t actually symbolize that a person had reached the third level of swordplay, ‘one with the world’, because the true ‘one with the world’ level of swordplay was when one could use any sword attack, be it something as simple as a stab, a chop, or a scrape, and utilize the power of the world itself with the attack. Only then would one be at the ‘one with the world’ level!

  Initiation only meant that one could temporarily reach the ‘one with the world’ effect when using certain techniques.

  According to what his father had said…

  Upon reaching ‘initiation’, one would have reached a certain level of expertise in a technique.

  When one reached the ‘one with the world’ level, that means one had mastered a technique.

  According to legends…

  There was an even higher, more profound level above the ‘one with the world’ level. The [Raindrop Sutra] and the [Thunderflame Sword] techniques were developed by people who were beyond the ‘one with the world’ level.

  “There is no need for you to be so continuously hard working while training in the sword,” Yichuan said. “Today, take Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf and go for a stroll.”

  Ning nodded. “Yes, father.”

  Ning turned his head and left through that narrow tunnel. As for the corpse of the dead monstrous beast, someone would come collect it later.

  ……

  West Prefecture City had hundreds of thousands of citizens. It was a large city.

  “Young master, it’s been so long since we’ve gone for a stroll.” Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf, his two female servants, were clearly very happy as they followed by his side.

  Ning smiled as he walked on the streets. This was one of the most bustling streets in the entire West Prefecture City. Generally speaking, all the merchants would pass by this street. The street was normally ten meters wide, but there were so many merchant stalls on each side that nearly half the space was taken up, causing there to only be seven meters of walking space left.

  “Look at this woman. Look at her ample chest, her large buttocks. She can definitely birth many babies. Ten lambskins for her!”

  “These men are all fine warriors. They can all lift over a thousand pounds. Just five ingots of gold. If you buy one, we’ll throw in a kid as well.”

  A bald man dressed in beast furs was shouting at the top of his lungs. He had several dozen fur-clad warriors standing guard around him, while he also had many slaves dressed in dirty, tattered fur pelts. All of them stared pitifully around them, hoping that they would meet a kind master who would buy them. There were signs on their heads.

  These signs signified that they were for sale.

  ……

  They strolled and looked around.

  There were slave traders, beast fur traders, weapon traders, beast traders, monstrous beast traders… all sorts of people were here. There were even some precious books, precious weapons, poisons and herbs, secret technique manuals, and other things for sale.

  “Over a hundred warriors in our tribe died for us to acquire this precious weapon, and then we had to make our way back through the wilderness and encounter countless difficulties before we arrived at the West Prefecture City. We weren’t even willing to sell it for thirty beastheads of gold, but you want to try and buy it for ten? That’s too little. At least a hundred beastheads of gold!” a rough-voiced man was shouting from nearby.

  Ning glanced over in curiosity.

  He saw dozens of people in a circle surrounding three strong men wearing pitch-black furs, one of whom had a black snake coiled around his arm. The man continued: “A hundred beastheads of gold, whoever pays a hundred beastheads can take it away!”

  “How greedy.”

  “He actually dares to demand a hundred beastheads of gold,” Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf both murmured.

  Ning was surprised as well. A beasthead of gold was around ten pounds. A hundred beastheads meant a thousand pounds of gold. Although to the young master of the Ji clan, it was nothing, to an ordinary tribesman, it was a vast fortune.”

  “No matter how sharp it is, it’s just a weapon.”

  “It isn’t as though it is some perfect magic treasure. It’s just a damaged magic treasure that can be used as a weapon.”

  “Twenty beastheads. I’ll pay twenty beastheads at most. You want to sell, and I want to buy!”

  Someone made an offer.

  “A hundred beastheads.” The man didn’t budge at all. The two men by his side watched the crowd carefully, afraid that someone might try to seize their treasure. For the sake of this treasure, many people in their tribe had died, and as they made their way from the tribe to the city through the desolate wilderness, dozens more warriors had died. They had to sell this treasure for a high price.

  After selling it, they would be able to buy some slaves and some good weapons, so as to allow the tribe to increase its power.

  “Let me take a look.” Ning saw the precious weapon which the man was clutching and immediately stepped forward.

  The people nearby all turned to look at him.

  “Young master.”

  “Young master.”

  “This is the young master of the Ji clan? The son of the Raindrop Sword?”

  Many people stepped back modestly. Anyone capable of paying such a high price was an extraordinary person. In addition, in the past few years, Ning had gone every day with the Whitewater Hound outside the city to train in archery. Each time they left the city, many people saw and recognized him as the exalted young master of the Ji clan. The other people who didn’t recognize him, upon hearing others discuss him, were made aware as well.

  When the man with the black snake saw everyone else step back, then heard the words ‘young master of the Ji clan’ and ‘son of the Raindrop Sword’, he was instantly so frightened that his heart began to shake. As people who lived on the territory of the Ji clan, they all knew the legendary Raindrop Sword. This was the number one expert in the entire area around the Ji clan’s West Pref
ecture, a godlike presence.

  And the person in front of him was the only child of the Raindrop Sword?

  “Let me take a look,” Ning said.

  “Honored young master, please look.” The man respectfully offered the sword in both hands. The two men behind him both felt extremely nervous. They were afraid that this young master who had an extremely high and exalted status would simply take their treasure by force. In the tribes, for a powerful person or person with high status to seize treasures by force was quite common. Although it was forbidden in the West Prefecture City and nobody dared to challenge the laws of the Ji clan, the young man in front of them was a young master of the Ji clan, the only son of the Raindrop Sword!

  Ning accepted the sword, and his hands sank down slightly from the weight. This was a pitch-black sword. The thick black sheath seemed very plain and unadorned, but if one looked at it closely, one would find that this scabbard actually had three swords sheathed within it.

  “One scabbard, three swords?” Surprised, Ning pulled out the swords.

  Clang!

  While pulling out the three swords, a cold light flashed on the surface of the swords, and ancient, shattered runes glowed dimly.

  “What a pity.” Ning shook his head and sighed. He had seen many treasures in the prefecture. Seeing those mysterious runes and the power they emanated, he knew that this was previously a magic treasure. It should have been three flying swords which were controlled by an Immortal practitioner. But these runes were all but destroyed. Clearly, this magic treasure was badly damaged. It could only be used as a weapon now.

  “Chi.” Ning tested his finger against the blade of the sword.

  “Careful. It is very sharp,” the man with the serpent called out in alarm. This precious weapon could cut through stones like tofu.

  Ning felt the skin of his fingertips shake slightly. He couldn’t help but feel surprise. “I have the Goldstar Shirt protecting my body, which is currently spread to every inch of my skin. Just then, when I casually sliced my finger… it actually impacted the Goldstar Shirt. If I were to swing the sword down hard, it probably would have broken through the Goldstar Shirt’s defense. I walk through the city streets every day on my way to archery training and have seen countless weapons, but I’ve never seen such a sharp, precious weapon.”

  Others only sensed that this weapon was very sharp, but they didn’t know exactly how sharp it was. But Ning had the feeling… that even his Goldstar Shirt would find it hard to block this precious weapon.

  “I want this weapon.” Ning looked at the man with the snake.

  The man was both excited and nervous. He hurriedly said, “Young master, for the sake of this weapon, our tribe…” In front of this young man of exalted status, he was nervous and didn’t dare to demand a certain price.

  * * *

  Book 1, Chapter 18 - Wings

  “Mm.” With a flip of his hand, a piece of blue-tinged gold appeared in Ning’s palm. He tossed it directly towards the man with the black serpent. “Take it.”

  “Just this little tiny piece of gold?” The man with the black serpent and the two behind him were frantic. They stared at that tiny bit of blue-tinged gold, just the size of a finger. “And it isn’t even pure?”

  “Young master.”

  “Respected young master.”

  The three men began to call out and beg. How could they possibly return to the tribes with this? The other tribal warriors were outside the city waiting. None of them were willing to enter the city… because the cost of entering the city was a lambskin or some other equivalent value item.

  “You pack of idiots. That is thundergold!”

  “I’m willing to pay a hundred beastheads of gold for that piece of thundergold.”

  “Just a hundred beastheads? A piece of thundergold of that size, I’d pay 160 beastheads! I can send someone to bring the beastheads of gold right now!” Instantly, the nearby people began to make offers. All of them were people of some status in the West Prefecture City, or came from the clans with Xiantian lifeforms in them, or perhaps belonged to the powerful tribes that were located close to the West Prefecture. How excellent their judgement must therefore be!

  The man with the black snake hurriedly clutched the piece of thundergold. He clearly felt that the weight of this item was far beyond that of normal yellow gold. He exchanged glances with his two friends, both shocked and overjoyed.

  “Thank you, young master.”

  “Thank you, mighty young master.”

  The three men instantly thanked him, filled with gratitude.

  “Now you thank him? The Raindrop Sword is a major figure whose fame is known everywhere. Think about what sort of status his son has. How could he possibly take your weapon by force? Just the tiniest portion of his fortune that he could casually toss out would astonish you,” a fat, fur-clad old man next to them said in a loud voice. Clearly, these words were intentionally said for the not too distant Ning to hear.

  Ning chuckled, and then casually made the sheath with the three swords disappear into his kalestone. Because the space inside the kalestone was limited, thus Ning only carried a few beastheads of gold with him. Everything else he had was all precious treasures.

  ……

  Within the hall.

  Ji Yichuan was seated at the master’s seat, while Yuchi Snow sat on his left. The two were slowly eating the food on the table in front of them.

  Swoosh!

  A human figure rushed in. It was Ning, who had finished his stroll.

  “Father, mother,” Ning said hurriedly.

  Yichuan frowned. “Why didn’t you pay attention to the time when you were taking a stroll outside?”

  Ning obediently didn’t dare to make a sound, hurriedly running to his usual spot, sitting on his knees and beginning to eat. Their lunch was rather sumptuous, with all sorts of meats, bread, and wine on the table. Ning’s current appetite was simply voracious, and virtually all of the food and beverages on the table were devoured by Ning in a short period of time.

  Snow laughed as she watched her son tear through the food like a tornado.

  “Father, mother.” Ning suddenly thought of the sheath and three swords he had purchased today. He hurriedly said, “Today, while taking the walk, I ran into three tribal warriors. They should have come from a distant, impoverished place of the Western Prefecture City. They came for the purpose of selling a precious weapon. And I… decided to buy it.”

  “Precious weapon?” The seated Yichuan frowned. “In the treasure warehouse of our Ji clan here in the West Prefecture, we have plenty of precious weapons. In the past, didn’t you already select two precious weapons? How can those lowly peddlers in the city possibly have anything good.”

  Because Ning had yet to reach the Xiantian level in Ki Refining, he naturally couldn’t control any magic treasures yet, which is why he went to the treasure warehouse to pick out two precious swords. But of course, when training in the cage, he only used ordinary weapons.

  “Father, the two precious weapons I selected in the warehouse are far inferior to this one I just bought,” Ning said seriously.

  “Oh?” Yichuan looked at his son.

  “Actually, the precious weapon I bought is a damaged sword-type magic treasure,” Ning explained. “There are occult runes carved onto it, but they are totally damaged. Therefore, it can only be used as a fairly sharp precious weapon. However, it really is sharp, far more so than the previous precious weapons in my residence. If I use some force, I can pierce through the Goldstar Shirt.”

  “Pierce through the Goldstar Shirt?” Yichuan revealed a hint of surprise. “Let me take a look.”

  Ning stretched his hand out, and that simple, unadorned sheath and three swords appeared within it. Standing up, he walked it over to his father.

  Yichuan accepted it and took a close look at the sheath, then pulled out the three swords. “The magic runes on the swords are totally destroyed, but it feels as though… this is indeed a fly
ing sword magic treasure! Unfortunately, it’s a damaged magic treasure. Most damaged magic treasures aren’t worth much. At most, they might be sold to be broken down into some other materials.”

  Ning nodded.

  He had read many books, and knew that damaged magic treasures were not worth much, because the material components of magic treasures had already undergone various fusing techniques, making it so that even if one broke down the magic treasure, one wouldn’t be able to get many of the original components back.

  “Chi!” Yichuan stroked the tip of the sword with his finger, and a hint of blood appeared on his fingertip. A look of shock appeared on his face. “What a sharp sword. Without any energy infused into it, the sword is still so incredibly sharp. I’ve never seen such a thing. Snow, come take a look. Can you tell where it comes from?”

  Yuchi Snow accepted it and carefully looked it over, then slowly shook her head after a long time. “I can’t tell.”

  “Mother, if this magic flying sword treasure wasn’t damaged, would it be a ‘ranked’ treasure?” Ning hurriedly asked.

  “Of course it would be a ‘ranked’ treasure.” Snow nodded. “Even though it is damaged, the sharpness of this sword is still on par with some ‘unranked’ magic treasures. When it was undamaged… of course it was a ‘ranked’ treasure. Only, exactly what rank it was at, I can’t tell at all. Perhaps no one in the entire area around Swallow Mountain can tell.”

  Ning nodded. He understood this.

  Generally speaking, the magic treasures owned by a Xiantian level Ki Refiner was ‘unranked’. Only Zifu Disciples and above would have ‘ranked’ magic treasures. Forging magic treasures… that was even harder. There was nobody in the entire Swallow Mountain area who was known to be able to forge magic treasures. Perhaps only in those distant, incomparably powerful tribes would there be an expert capable of forging magic treasures.

  “The Grand Xia Dynasty has persisted from the Fiendgod Era until now.” Yichuan returned the sheath and the three swords to his son. “It rules over countless territories, with a history of trillions of years. Who knows how many tribes have risen, fallen, or been exterminated, and how many treasures they have left behind. It isn’t rare to see some magic treasures left over from wars, and our Ji clan has hundreds of damaged magic treasures as well, most of which are of unknown origin. But for this damaged magic treasure to still be so incredibly sharp is quite rare. It is very suited for your use.”